Apparatus for reworking a steel edge of a ski

ABSTRACT

An apparatus is described for reworking a steel edge of a ski ( 1 ), comprising at least one grinding apparatus ( 16 ) made of a cup-like grinding wheel ( 18 ) which is driven by a motor ( 17 ) and comprises a rotational axis extending transversally to the direction of feed ( 10 ), a bearing block ( 15 ) arranged on a feed carriage ( 9 ) which forms an oscillating axis (b) for the grinding device ( 16 ) extending transversally to the direction of feed ( 10 ) and perpendicular to the rotational axis of the grinding wheel ( 18 ), a guide means ( 8 ) for the feed carriage ( 9 ) which is held in a transverse carriage ( 6 ) movable transversally to the direction of feed and is rotatable about an axis (a) extending in the direction of feed, and an adjusting device for the angular position of the guide means ( 8 ) of the feed carriage ( 9 ). In order to achieve an advantageous machining of steel edges it is proposed that the adjusting device for the angular position of the guide means ( 8 ) of the feed carriage ( 9 ) comprises an actuating drive ( 11 ) which can be triggered with the help of a control device depending on the position of the grinding intervention relating to the length of the ski.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

Applicants claim priority under 35 U.S.C. §119 of Austrian ApplicationNo. A 136/2004 filed Jan. 30, 2004. Applicants also claim priority under35 U.S.C. §365 of PCT/AT2005/000020 filed Jan. 27, 2005. Theinternational application under PCT article 21(2) was not published inEnglish.

1. Field of the Invention

The invention relates to an apparatus for reworking a steel edge of aski, comprising at least one grinding apparatus made of a cup-likegrinding wheel which is driven by a motor, comprising a rotational axisextending transversally to the direction of feed, a bearing blockarranged on a feed carriage which forms an oscillating axis for thegrinding device extending transversally to the direction of feed andperpendicular to the rotational axis of the grinding wheel, a guidemeans for the feed carriage which is held in a transverse carriagemovable transversally to the direction of feed and is rotatable about anaxis extending in the direction of feed, and an adjusting device for theangular position of the guide means of the feed carriage.

2. Description of the Prior Art

In order to enable the machining of the lateral edges of skis, i.e.their steel edges in the lateral and bottom edge region, with the helpof a grinding tool in an advantageous manner, it is known (WO 98/04384A1) to provide a cup-like grinding wheel which is held in a freelyrotatable manner on an oscillating axis extending in a stop-delimitedmanner relative to its rotational axis and its direction of feed and isconnected with a feed drive, so that the cup wheel can be placed on thesteel edge in a self-aligning manner. The cup wheel rests on themachining surface of the steel edge in two circumferential areas whichare opposite of each other with respect to a chord, which allows anautomatic adjustment of the cup disk about the oscillating axis even inthe sidecut section of the skis. The optional machining of the lateralor bottom edge is enabled by a pivoting adjustment of the grindingdevice about an axis extending in the direction of feed. A pivoting stopdetermines the respective angular position of the grinding device andthus the angle of the steel edge in the lateral or bottom edge region.The desired grinding angle can be set in the lateral and bottom edgeregion can be set by means of an adjusting of said pivoting stops.

It is further known for the simultaneous machining of the lateral edgesof two skis held in a manner suitable for machining (EP 1 228 840 A1) toprovide two grinding devices with cup-like grinding wheels. Under theprecondition that the grinding wheels project beyond the grinding deviceby an amount required for machining the lateral edges, it is thuspossible to engage into the intermediate space between the two skisreceived in a ski holding device in order to grind one of the twomutually facing lateral edges of the skis without impairing therespective other ski. For this purpose, the grinding device merely needsto be placed on the lateral edge of the ski to be machined by means of afeed device and the ski holding device needs to be moved in thedirection of feed relative to the grinding device. To ensure that thegrinding devices can be aligned easily relative to the lateral edges tobe machined, the feed carriages receiving the grinding devices are heldon transverse carriages which are displaceable independent from eachother. For the purpose of machining the bottom or lateral edges of theskis, the guide means for the feed carriages of the grinding devices inthe transverse carriages can be swiveled about an axis extending in thedirection of feed between the basic positions with limit stops for thealternate machining of the bottom and lateral edges, which occurs withthe help of pivoting cylinders.

Irrespective of whether only one or two grinding devices are provided,the cup-like grinding wheel is placed on the face side against the steeledge section to be ground under a predetermined angle which determinesthe later edge angle of the machined steel edge and is maintainedprecisely over the length of the ski. Despite maintaining the edge angleover the length of the ski precisely, there is a gliding and guidingbehavior of the steel edges which becomes less satisfactory withincreasing sidecut of the skis, especially under higher loads as occurin ski racing.

In order to facilitate the twisting of a ski it is finally known (WO87/06868 A1) to grind the steel edges in the bottom edge region startingfrom the sidecut middle region against the widening ski ends with anincreasing angle of attack. For this purpose, the grinding wheels areheld on guide places which are held transversally to the longitudinaldirection of the skis in an adjustable way, namely with the help ofguide pins of which the guide pins averted from the ski are guided in alink inclined relative to the running surface of the ski about an axisof the length of the ski, whereas the guide pins facing the ski engagein guide means parallel to the running surface. Since the guide platesrest by way of guide rollers on the lateral edges of the ski, the guideplates are pressed apart towards the ends of the ski against the forceof a spring with the effect that the inclination of the plates and, withthe inclination of the plates, the angle of attack of the grinding wheelincreases. Apart from the fact that with the help of this known grindingapparatus it is only possible to provide a change of the angle of attackof the grinding wheels which is dependent on the ski width and ispredetermined constructionally, it has been seen that the desiredprecise guidance of the ski cannot be achieved with such a machining ofthe edges.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The invention is thus based on the object of providing an apparatus forreworking a steel edge of a ski of the kind mentioned above in such away that the steel edges can be ground repeatedly in such a way thatadvantageous gliding and guiding properties for the ski are obtainedwhich are advantageous for the respective requirements.

This object is achieved by the invention in such a way that theadjusting device for the angular position of the guide means of the feedcarriage comprises an actuating drive which can be triggered with thehelp of a control device depending on the position of the grindingintervention relating to the length of the ski.

By providing an actuating drive for the adjusting device of the angularposition of the guide means of the feed carriage, it is easily possible,in conjunction with a respective control device for controlling thisadjusting device, to change the edge angle of the steel edges of a skiboth in the region of the lateral and bottom edges in a predeterminedmanner over the length of the ski, thus entailing the desiredimprovements in the riding and guiding behavior of the ski because ithas been seen that with the machining of the bottom edge per se it isnot possible to have a sufficient influence on the riding properties. Inorder to take the different requirements placed on edge grip in the areaof the binding and in the area of the ends of the ski into account, itis necessary to have a sufficiently precise actuating drive for theadjusting device. This is achieved advantageously when the actuatingdrive comprises a controlled electric stepper motor with a low-play gearwhich is connected with the guide means for the feed carriage. Aseparate pivoting drive can thus be omitted with the use of such astepper motor in order to adjust the guide means for the feed carriagebetween the grinding positions for the bottom and lateral edge of theski because this changeover of the basic positions of the grindingdevice can be made via the actuating drive.

The alignment of the grinding device corresponding to the progress ofthe edge via the oscillating axis extending perpendicular to therotational axis of the grinding wheel and transversally to the directionof feed leads to the consequence that the cup-like grinding wheel needsto rest on the face side in the region of two circumferential sectionson the steel edge of the ski extending in a chord-like manner relativeto the grinding wheel, which may lead to difficulties in the end regionsof the ski when the steel edge needs to be machined up to the end regionunder adherence to precise grinding angles. In order to avoid thesedifficulties, the grinding device can be torsionally rigidly connectedwith the bearing block via a fixing device, so that the grinding wheel,for the purpose of machining the ends of the ski, can also be used byresting on one side on the steel edge to be ground.

In order to obtain a precise guidance of the transverse carriagerelative to the ski which causes a movement of the transverse carriagetransversally to the direction of feed as a result of its sidecutportion, a double-arm lever can be held on the transverse carriage,which lever comprises two guide rollers provided on either side of thegrinding device for the lateral longitudinal edges of the ski, so thatan automatic contact of the guide rollers on the lateral longitudinaledges of the ski is obtained via a possible oscillating movement of thedouble-arm lever. This support of the transverse carriage relative tothe ski which is held in a manner suitable for machining is onlyeffective when both guide rollers rest on the ski. To ensure that asupport can be enabled via one guide roller only which is necessary inthe end regions of the ski, the lever with its guide rollers in itsrespective pivoting position can be joined in a torsionally rigid mannerwith the transverse carriage by a fixing device.

The control device for changing the edge angle to be ground over thelength of the ski offers the simple possibility to even control othergrinding parameters depending on the position of the grindingintervention which depends on the length of the ski. As a result, thegrinding pressure can be set to a different pressure by a respectivetriggering of the feed cylinder of the feed carriage and the speed ofthe grinding wheel and/or the feeding speed can be changed in order tohave a respective influence on the surface quality of the grindingsurfaces, which in conjunction with a respective configuration of theedge angle has an advantageous effect on the guidance and hold of theski on a solid or icy base.

To ensure that the grinding parameters can be adjusted to differentconditions, it is necessary that the respective control parameters forgrinding the ski edge must be predetermined for the control device fordetermining the reference variables. For this purpose the control devicecan advantageously comprise an interface for entering these controlparameters.

Since after the machining of a ski is no longer possible to determinewithout complex measuring methods under which control parameters the skiedge was ground (any changes of the edge angle in the magnitude of 0.1°have an influence on the riding behavior), it is recommended to statethe respective control parameters for the grinding of the ski edge onthe ski. For this purpose, a writing device for a preferablymachine-readable identifier of the respective control parameters can betriggered via a control device, that the label with this identifier canbe applied to the ski, preferably glued onto the same. In the case ofmachine-readable identifiers, the respective control parameters for arepeated reworking of the ski edges can be read automatically into thecontrol device in order to be changed in sections in order to optionallyimprove the riding behavior.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The subject matter of the invention is shown in the drawings by way ofexample, wherein:

FIG. 1 shows a simplified top view of an apparatus in accordance withthe invention for reworking a steel edge of a ski;

FIG. 2 shows a sectional view along line II-II in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 shows the apparatus according to FIG. 1 in a sectional front viewin the area of the transverse carriage, and

FIG. 4 shows the transverse carriage with the grinding device accordingto FIG. 3 in a bottom view.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The illustrated apparatus for machining a steel edge of a ski 1comprises a frame 3 which is displaceable in respective of its height ina housing (not shown in closer detail) on vertical guide means 2 andwhich can be adjusted via lifting cylinders along the guide means 2.Guide rods 5 for two transverse carriages 6 are provided in outerlateral cheeks 4 of the frame 3, which transverse carriages aredisplaceable along the guide rods 5 by means of actuating cylinders 7acting on the one hand upon the lateral cheeks 4 and on the other handon the transverse carriages 6. Guide means 8 for feed carriages 9 arerotatably held on the transverse carriages 6, namely about a rotationalaxis a extending in the direction of feed 10 of the ski 1, as indicatedin FIGS. 1 and 2 with the dot-dash line.

An actuating drive 11 is provided for turning the guide means 8, whichdrive consists according to the embodiment of an electric stepper motor12 and a low-play gear 13, preferably a bevel gear, with the guide means8 resting in a torsionally rigid manner on the output shaft of saidbevel gear. The feed carriage 9 guided on the guide rods 14 of the guidemeans 8 carries a bearing block 15 for the grinding device 16 whichcomprises a motor 17 and a cup-like grinding wheel 18 and is rotatablyheld in the bearing block 15 about an oscillating axis b extendingperpendicular to the rotational axis of the cup like grinding wheel 18and is aligned transversally to the direction of feed 10. As a result,an automatic adjustment of the alignment of the grinding wheel 18relative to the progress of the steel edge is achieved without changingthe edge angle set by the actuating drive 11 via the bevel gear 13. Inorder to enable the continuation of the grinding process in the endregion of the skis when the circumferential section, which is the one onthe front face side in the direction of feed 10 of the grinding device16, is moved beyond the grinding area, the grinding device 16 can betorsionally rigidly connected with the bearing block 15 by way of alocking device 19, which is achieved in the present embodiment by alocking cylinder between the bearing block 15 and the grinding device16.

Ski 1 is clamped in a manner ready for machining on a longitudinalcarriage 20 (merely indicated in FIGS. 1 and 3 with a dot-dash line) onrubber-elastic supports 21, so that during the lowering of the frame 3over the guide means 2 holding-down rollers 22, which are held in theframe 3, are lowered onto the running surface of the ski 1 and determinea reference plane for machining the steel edges, as is shown in FIG. 2.For the purpose of aligning the transverse carriages 6 relative to theassociated longitudinal edges of ski 1, guide rollers 23 are eachprovided in the transverse carriages 6, which guide rollers are held ona double-arm lever 24 which is linked in the region of the cup-likegrinding wheel 18 via a shaft 25 to a support arm 26 of the respectivetransverse carriage 6. As a result of a free oscillating movement of thelever 24 about the pivoting axis 25, the guide rollers 23 can alwaysrest on both sides of the grinding wheel 18 on the lateral edges of theski. The free pivoting movement of the lever 24 can be blocked by meansof a locking device 27 in the form of a locking cylinder, so that alateral guidance for the carriage 6 is also obtained when one of the twoguide rollers 23 already lies outside of the lateral edge of the ski 1.

The carriages 6 which are displaced via the actuating cylinders 7against the longitudinal edges of ski 1 until the guide rollers 23 reston the lateral edges, always assume a certain position relative to thelongitudinal section of ski 1 which is in grinding engagement as aresult of the follow-up guidance secured by way of the guide rollers 23even in the case of skis with a strong sidecut. The feed carriage 9 forthe grinding device 16 can be subjected to a predeterminable grindingpressure. For this purpose, a feed cylinder 28 resting on the guidemeans 8 engages on the feed carriage 9.

In contrast to conventional grinding devices, the preconditions arecreated by the actuating drive 11 of the adjusting device for theangular position of the guide means 8 of the feed carriage 9 to changesaid angular position and thus the edge angle of the steel edge duringthe grinding process. For this purpose a control device is providedwhich triggers the actuating drives 11 depending on the position of thegrinding intervention relating to the ski length in such a way thatdifferent angles are obtained in certain longitudinal sections. It isadditionally possible to distinguish between the outside and the inneredge of the ski 1. Since it is possible to have a respective influenceaccording to the respective requirements via the control device withoutany additional effort on the feed speed of the ski relative to thegrinding device, the speed of the grinding device and/or the grindingpressure depending on the position of the grinding intervention relatingto the length of the ski, the running and guiding properties of a ski 1,especially under racing conditions, can be adjusted in a fine-tunedmanner to the conditions of the snow and the slope and to the skier'sriding style with the help of the apparatus in accordance with theinvention.

It is understood that the invention is not limited to the illustratedembodiment. The adjusting device for the grinding angle can alsocomprise an actuating drive for the known stops for the guide means 8 ofthe feed carriage 9.

The direction of feed 10 which is obtained from the relative movement ofthe carriage 20 receiving the ski 1 relative to the grinding device 16is given by way of example only because the machining of steel edges isobviously also possible in an opposite direction of feed, which willalways be utilized in cases when the machining occurs in several stagesin a reciprocating manner.

1. An apparatus for finishing a steel edge of a ski of a selected lengthcomprising: (a) at least one grinder comprising a motor and a cup-shapedgrinding wheel driven by said motor, said grinding wheel having an axisof rotation extending transversely to a feed direction; (b) a settingcarriage; (c) a bearing block arranged on the setting carriage androtatably mounting the at least one grinder, the bearing block forming apendulum axis extending transversely to the feed direction andperpendicularly to the axis of rotation of the grinding wheel; (d) atransverse carriage movable transversely to the feed direction; (e) aguide for the setting carriage rotatably mounted in the transversecarriage about a guide axis extending in the feed direction, the settingcarriage being guided on the guide; (f) a control device; and (g) anadjusting device for adjusting angular position of the guide, saidadjusting device comprising an adjusting drive adapted to be controlledby the control device in dependence upon position of grinding engagementof the grinding wheel in relation to the length of the ski.
 2. Theapparatus according to claim 1, wherein the adjusting drive comprises acontrolled electric stepper motor with a low-play gear which isconnected with the guide.
 3. The apparatus according to claim 1, whereinthe at least one grinder is connected with the bearing block in arotationally secure way by a locking device.
 4. The apparatus accordingto claim 1, wherein a double-arm lever is held on the transversecarriage, said lever comprising two guide rollers provided on eitherside of the at least one grinder for the lateral longitudinal edges ofthe ski.
 5. The apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the lever withthe guide rollers is connected in its respective pivoting position in arotationally secure way with the transverse carriage by a lockingdevice.
 6. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein an adjustingcylinder engages on the setting carriage, said adjusting cylinder beingcontrolled by the control device depending on the position of thegrinding engagement in relation to the length of the ski.
 7. Theapparatus according to claim 1, wherein the grinding wheel has agrinding wheel speed, at least one of the grinding wheel speed and afeed speed of the ski in relation to the grinding wheel being changeabledepending on the position of the grinding engagement in relation to thelength of the ski.
 8. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein thecontrol device comprises an interface for entering control parametersfor grinding the ski edge.
 9. The apparatus according to claim 1,wherein a recording device for a machine-readable characterization ofthe control parameters for grinding the ski edge can be controlled byway of the control device.